St. Margaret Mary

Fr. Patrick outside the Church

The Island is 144 miles long, 52 miles wide, covering about 4411 sq. miles in area. According to a recent census, our population is between 5-6 million people, with more than half of them living abroad, particularly in Canada, England and the USA.

St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church stretches through two Civil Parishes: South East and South West Clarendon [35 districts] with a population of about 87,893.

The population is generally poor due to high illiteracy rate (80%) that has denied the community chances of acquiring skills to be competitive in the labor market. About 50% of this population is children below 20 yrs old who are dependent on their parents.

Most of the population is involved in temporary employment in the Monymusk Sugar Factory, Rocky Point Fishing Bay, Bauxite Company and domestic work.

Families that are involved in farming practices are disadvantaged because the place is within the leeward side of the Clarendon ranges where rainfall is seasonal and unreliable. Due to lack of personal or family land, people generally practice small-scale farming mainly on the ‘capture lands’. Others practice domestic animal farming but the animals end up becoming semi-wild since there is no space at home.

Most of the population is comprised of immigrants from other parts of Jamaica who come in search of employment in the industries, hence, they do not own land or housing. The majority of persons living in this area live in rented houses with large families, which they are not able to support financially from their meager wages (The estimated average annual income per capita is approximately US$ 240). Therefore, relatives abroad and the Church bear the heaviest burden that emanates from the high cost of living.

St. Margaret Mary was established in 1935. The membership is about 2,000 persons. However, only 120 are Practicing Catholics. We have the Parish center and a mission church [St. Philomena Church], each of which has a basic school that serves the community.

One major problem is that there has been little follow up of the Catholics in the area since there has never been a resident priest. As a result most members have become lukewarm in their faith. The poverty in the community from a general lack of permanent employment makes it difficult for most of them to contribute in church development programs. The Sunday collection is very small; totaling about 50 US dollars per week. This income is not enough to support the priest[s], the sister and meet the needs of the parish. Therefore, it is our Beloved Bishop, the kind benefactors of Cathedral of Blessed Sacrament Parish, and other donors to the Diocese that provide for all the basic financial needs of the Parish.

v Renovate the church building (i.e. painting, roof repairs, grilling of windows, fixing new windows, placing new pews, altar, tabernacle, electricity, water and drainage system and fencing the compound).

v The community has assisted through labor output and fund-raising in the establishment of two basic schools, and some have contributed financially to the construction of St. Margaret Mary Basic School.

The decline in faith and deteriorating condition of the church building has been due to lack of follow up by the pastors because of the distance they had to travel. For many years church property had been vandalized since there was no overseer for the property. In the past, priests could only come once a month for Masses and confessions, and occasionally make pastoral visits to the communities. Since I started staying in the area, I have seen a lot changes. A Rectory building has therefore become a need, but the Bishop has clearly stated that Rome has asked him not to start any new projects unless there is complete funding for it. We are therefore working out ways and means of raising funds for this {{US$ 120,000}} Project.

Due to the high cost of living, most parents are not able to fully support their children in education. The school manages to give children a hot meal everyday and off set the tuition fees for the destitute children. The parents have embarked on fundraising activities but owing to the economic situation of most of the parents, we have a long way to go without your help. We have just extended two more classrooms hoping that in September St. Margaret Mary Basic School can hold 150 children comfortably.

A brief study of the growth of the Churches in Jamaica shows that it is through schools and general educational programs that most Christian churches took roots and evangelized the Island. Jamaica is a “Christian” nation that once entered the Guinness book of record as the country with the most churches per square miles but most of these churches are never full. However the Catholic, Methodists, Moravians, Seventh Day and Anglicans shaped education and used this mode to establish themselves. This is why we have a lot of interest in our school because it is here that we will ‘either win or lose them’.

Most of our adults are illiterate, hence the need for some adult literacy classes and some skill learning.

We keep losing so many youth in the community to drugs, teenage pregnancy, incest, Aids, crime and violence. Most of them dropped out or never performed well at school. To keep them out of trouble, the church has to come up with some form of occupational training for teens.

Any dollar that you sacrifice makes all the difference in our lives in Jamaica and is highly appreciated. May God bless you in all ways.

If you would like to help in this wonderful and heart-warming ministry, please contact our Parish Office.